Digital media is the way forward for realtors, say experts

Shashi Tripathi, Head of New Business Sales, Google India and GroupM’s Trishul Bhumkar, Head of the West Region, Motivator consider digital media to be a strong growth booster for the real estate sector. Both industry experts say that using the internet will be a cost-effective option for real estate developers.

Tripathi and Bhumkar were sharing their views at the knowledge seminar with the theme ‘Real Estate in a Digitised World’, organised by the International Advertising Association (India Chapter) in Nashik recently.

The seminar was sponsored by Marathi daily Deshdoot and the Nashik wing of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

Delivering the inaugural address, Ramesh Narayan, veteran advertising professional and IAA India managing committee member, stressed on the importance of digital media in today’s global market and explained IAA’s focus not just on “good” initiatives, but also on bringing quality programmes to smaller cities across India.

Awareness to sale in one go: Bhumkar
In his address, Bhumkar explained the work profile of GroupM in India and its contribution in Indian market today. While making the realtors aware of the power of advertising, he brought it to their notice that sale of the product, consideration of the product by customers, and awareness about it among customers are the three factors which play a key role in growth of any business. “Digital media is the only media in which all three can be achieved simultaneously,” Bhumkar maintained.

He added that among the urban population of 34 crore in India, 14 crore people use the internet today not only through computers, but also via mobile phones today. With this backdrop, real estate developers should make their property advertisements digitised to reach maximum number of customers, he said.

Bhumkar further informed that more than 15,000 users search for properties in Nashik online every month. It means that if realtors from Nashik make information about their projects more accessible through internet, they can get better response and grow their business with greater speed, he added.

Digital media benefits are measurable: Tripathi
Reflecting Bhumkar’s sentiments, Tripathi evaluated the overall possible outputs that real estate developers can achieve in the next few years if they follow this path of the ‘Digitised World.’ He noted that the real estate market in India will double by 2017.

Digital media is the most cost-effective media and its striking USP is that the benefits are easily and clearly measurable, he reiterated. He revealed that there are more than 235 million users of internet in India today. This figure can rise up to 350 million by the next year. And these are mostly English knowing users.

With Indian languages gaining ground on the internet, there will lead to an explosion in the internet population. Thus, internet can be considered as the best medium to reach the maximum number of people today.

Tripathi explained how using the internet would be a cost-effective option for real estate developers. He informed that 89 per cent of all real estate business in the country today happens online. One in two people look for properties online, while one in four research these online.